Promise
by Besfrenz
Summary: Promises are never meant to be broken. And Kurei never intended to.


Promise

-besfrenze-

Disclaimer: FoR not mine, not now, not ever.

"You were not supposed to live, cursed child!"

With each minute passing by, the rain seemed to pour harder and thunders rolled by brutally. The weather didn't seem to be calming down. Drenched and cold,  the young child on the road continued walking. Even though he was starting to feel numb due to exhaustion and hunger, he kept on walking. He needed to survive. He wanted to live.

"No matter how harsh the situation is, don't give up."

He remembered his mother's last words. He promised her to survive. He didn't want to die in this strange world. Once again he looked around his surroundings, trying to look for something familiar. Long poles with balls on top of each of them glowing with light, strange boxes with wheels, some parked on the sides of the roads, some running, splashing water upon the pedestrians, houses that didn't look like houses lining along each other. His head throbbed with confusion, but he won't give up. Never. An elderly couple passed by and looked at him strangely, they were wearing funny clothes. The woman stopped beside him and pulled out something from her purse. She handed her a strange piece of paper. Astonished, he simply muttered a thanks under his breath. Without another word, he continued his walk.

"Such pitiful young boy. Where do you think his parents are?"

Another lightning struck he clutched the strange paper on his hand tightly. Despair and anger warred inside him, yet his face remained impassive. He didn't need her sympathy, he didn't need anybody's sympathy. He didn't deserve sympathy. He was a cursed child, he only deserved loathing and ridicule. Nothing more. It had always been that way, he didn't expect it to change.

"Kurei, come see your brother."

He remembered how happy and excited his father was when Recca was born. In fact, he was also happy that now he was someone's big brother. He immediately loved him when he first saw the baby. The tiny little hands could only hold one of his fingers. The baby smiled at his touch. Something funny tugged at Kurei's heart. His baby brother looked so innocent. He planned to be a good brother, he would take good care of Recca and protect him from all the bullies. But then that day came, that day when everything changed.

"He is the cursed child!"

That was when all hell broke loose. His father only looked at him, his eyes asking for forgiveness silently. Kagerou tried to deny the statement of the elder. His mother clung to him protectively. His brother wailed loudly. The elder declared his death! They needed to kill him. They wanted to kill him. 

"No! He's just a child!"

A big mistake, she should have let them kill him. Kagerou had begged for mercy while his father had accepted fate and maintained his silence. His mother was crying hysterically. But Kurei's face show neither fear nor anger. In fact, it showed nothing. He then turned his gaze to his brother. How he loved him, at the same time hated him so much. He wanted to hug him tightly and sing him lullabies, but this was happening because he was born. It was because of his brother he was going through all of this. The injustice made him want to strangle his own brother to death.

"We don't wanna play with you, go away!"

His hand traveled to his nape and touched the spot softly. _It still hurts. _But that boy didn't know that didn't he? He remembered being so angry when the stone hit him squarely. But he didn't let his anger show. He stayed cool. The girls were so scared when he stared at them, his eyes empty. All the boys were laughing so hard, poking their fingers. His eyes locked with the boy who threw the stone, he knew his eyes frightened the boy, he could see it in his eyes. But the boy tried to put up a brave façade.

"Go back to crazy mama, cursed boy."

Then suddenly the boy burst into flame. The screams, the accusing fingers, the fear in their eyes. He was terrified then, he didn't know why and how it happened. The villagers rushed to the scene, they used their madougu to put out the fire quickly, the boy barely survived the flame. Then the villagers turned to Kurei and walked towards him menacingly. Even the memory made him flinch.

"You did it, didn't you? You Evil child!"

The first punch sent him reeling to the ground, then several kicks followed. He clearly remembered all the pain and the shame. Several minutes passed by, they didn't plan to end the torture any time soon. He didn't know how many time had passed by when he was starting to feel numb, then everything turned black. He had woken up with every part of his body soar and aching. He saw the tears in his mother's eyes while her hands was trying to soothe all the bruises by rubbing ointments upon them. That was when he noticed her mother's own bruises."

"I'm sorry, it was all my fault…"

His mother blamed herself for giving birth to him and causing him all his sufferings. He had never blamed his mother. He never asked his mother about the bruises either. He knew how the villagers treated him and his mother. It was all his fault. His mother was beaten in order to protect him. Now he could never see his mother again. It was all his damned fault. A single tear rolled down his cheek as the realization that he could never see his mother's kind face ever again. It was the first time Kurei cried.

"Mother, I promise I will live."

He quickly wiped the tear away from his face. He needed to be strong. He threw the strange paper away. He needed to continue fighting. Fight the pain, fight the exhaustion, fight the hunger, fight the life fate had laid upon him. He would live for his mother. He loved her, and he had never broken any of his promises he made to her. And he wouldn't start now.

"I need food. I can work for you."

He knocked on the daunting big house and an old man opened the door. The old man shooed him away, but the hunger made him persistent. He offered to do anything, the man looked at him disgusted. That was when a strange box with wheels pulled up on the empty lot beside the big house. The old man rushed out of the house carrying an umbrella and opened the back door of the box. He opened the umbrella, shielding the man coming out of the box from the fierce rain. The man was big and looked intimidating.

"I would do anything. Just give me food."

The boy decided to put aside his pride for awhile in exchange for something to put into his mouth and a warm place, so he decided to add a please to his statement. He didn't want to break his promise, and he was so hungry and desperate. But still he wouldn't beg, he would never get down to his knees. If he needed food, he would work for it.

"Anything?"

The big man finally looked at him, with a horrifying smile on his face. The boy wanted to run away, but the need to survive won against fear. He nodded his head firmly, and the man laughed evilly. He signaled the old man to bring Kurei inside. He didn't know that this was the biggest mistake he had made in his life. And he could never imagine how dearly he would pay for the price of his food.


End file.
